Tuesday, September 26, 2017

Strange Commission

New commissioned card with a "Stranger Things" theme :) Niamh was 13! Incase you are trying to read the upside down bit :)


The top portion is a Distress Ink/Oxide background, am IO die DIE079-u (Birch trees), a magazine freebie bike die and Lawn Fawn Grassy Border. 
The font is KG Life is Messy, which was recommended online for a dupe to the real text in the tv programme. The lights were free clipart with added copic "glow".
I also added some baker's twine and tiny fairy light embellis from the stash.


The bottom section is an old "acrylic paint through stencil onto black card", background I made on a messing day using a borrowed stencil (No details sorry). I used an online programme that converts your text into the Stranger Things font and then I printed that out, cut it and added a border of paprika stickles. Also the lawn fawn grassy border die but in black.




Friday, September 22, 2017

Biker chick!

I had a commission in for a "Burgundy haired biker chick with a basket of cats on the front of her motorbike" card and had a hunt round for a suitable digi. It was for a 60th birthday so I wanted something not too childish but still fairly cute. I found this awesome image from The Paper Shelter called "Undetected on the Routes"!


Obviously I couldn't find one with a basket of cats on the front so I had to add that in. I amended the original digistamp and added in a basket, then took the bike light off the original stamp and put it back to the front of the bike. So my cats were kinda sewn into place!


The image is polychromo pencils on kraft card with white posca pen highlights on the eyes and glossy accents on the lights and googles. I am particularly happy with how to metal work on the exhausts turned out!


I matted the image onto a 17 x 17 cm card blank made from pre-printed card stock (I think from Everycraftsapound?) and added flowers from Wild Orchid & Hobbycraft.

Wednesday, September 20, 2017

The Great Outdoors

You know I love colouring Dr.Digi stamps, so it was no hardship at all to colour this one up for my FIL's birthday! This is "The Great Outdoors" digistamp from Dr.Digi's House of Stamps.


I actually won this digi as part of a prize from Dr. Digi's earlier this year. I added in some background to the stamp to make even more of a scene. It's coloured with polychromo pencils on kraft card with highlights in white posca pen.


I matted a greeting on the top of the card with 3D foam pads.


Monday, September 18, 2017

Next Frenchie Card!

So last post I showed you the commissioned card I made for Ted, this is the card I made for his sister Esmae! :)


I went for a simple easel card, 15 x 15 cm. The frenchie is from a Making Card Magazine Freebie. I scanned it and recoloured it to make it a beige frenchie so it looked like Esmae :) I also used the papers that came in the same pack.


Flowers are from Wild Orchid. Clouds are Joy Die Clouds. Added Stickles and Nuvo Jewel Drops. Lace, number, brad etc all from stash.

Friday, September 15, 2017

Ted's Second Birthday

Hi folks :) Have a lovely commission once a year to make birthday cards for a friend's & friend's daughter's dogs :) They are called Ted and Esmae and are french bulldogs. (They also have Bert who is the pug I make cards for too). In this post I will show you Ted's card and next post I will do Esmae's.



I did a pale line drawing of the two dogs and added text to the topper on the PC and then printed it out. Then I used Gansai Tambi Watercolours to paint the two dogs and included some gold to add highlights.  The font is Neuropolitical.


I mat and layered it onto a brown pearlescent card stock and then a white 17 x 17cm blank.  I scanned my dog painting into the computer, not sure whether I should try and do a good print of it to sell?


I actually did two paintings of it, this one I used less traditional colours  and let the watercolours do more random things! I then scanned this and used it as a background inside the card on the area to write a message. 



Wednesday, September 13, 2017

Kate's Camera Card

Another commissioned card, and very specific too! Michelangelo's David, holding a Canon Camera with a Sorento theme! I much prefer orders like this, I know what I'm aiming for!


So I photoshopped "David" to be holding a camera over his accoutrements as you can never be sure how much nudity is appropriate, lol! I popped online to find some images of vintage Sorento postcards to include kinda as "snaps".


For the background and camera embellis I used Inkadinkado Stamp Set called "Cameras", really pleased to finally use it, it's been in the "unused stash" along time!


This is the background I made for the card, using one of the large cameras from the Inkadinkado set and blended distress inks and oxides, followed by some water flicking, and using a round lid to make a bleaching effect on the camera lenses. I also cut out a few Joy Clouds from the scraps to include on the card, edged with Nuvo Jewel Drops.

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

Colouring Tutorial for Fur using Polychromo Pencils on Kraft.

This was requested and suggested by crafty friends who would like to know how I colour fur when I use pencils on kraft card. Here is the card I made and took pictures of to show the process!



I am not a professional colourist, and do not want to replace great colouring tutorials available on line, but this is showing you my way of colouring, to hopefully give you some ideas!

So details to start with.

  • I have the standard 24 box of polychromo pencils + a few extras.
  • I always use my pencils with a sharp tip.
  • I also use a fine nibbed White Posca Paint Pen and a Uni Pin Fine Line Black Pen.
  • I am using card called Kendal Buff. It is a light smoothish kraft card.
  • I am using the image "Grumpy Bunny" from Knitty Kitty Digis Snow Scene Set Quartet.
  • I am aiming for a grey bunny!
  • I have printed him off in grey, so I can more easily colour over the lines and give him a furry look. On the same A4 sheet of card I also print off the digi in black so I can refer to it as I colour, and as gradually the image gets harder to see.


You can use other kinds of pencils. I have used the same technique with Spectrum Noir Pencils and it works OK! However it is much harder to use white over the top of other colours once the card becomes saturated using SN's. It's pretty easy with Polychromos to keep adding more layers. It was easier with Spectrum Noir Pencils to achieve a fine point on the pencil and do much finer fur, so there are advantages! I prefer polychromo's tho, for fur.

You can use other kinds of card too! I have used lots of kinds of kraft card. One of the standard card packs ,containing kraft card, has a different finish on either side. One side is actually pretty coarse. You can use the coarse side if you want, but the result is far softer and more pastel-ly looking. If the card is too smooth and shiny, it's hard to add more than a couple of layers of colour, so you might want to have an experiment with different varieties of kraft before commiting to a large pack of one type! :)


So, here goes. ( I ignore the tail to right at the end, no reason, I just forgot to include it earlier! lol)



1. I began by colouring all the non-fur elements. I am not planning on explaining how to colour hats and scarves, I am sure you can already do that! The only important point is to follow the same light source you used with your other elements when you start the fur. I have done the hat and scarf first because when I add the hair, they will be behind it. Light source is coming down from the top left. I have also done a white base layer to the areas of fur that will be pale, or have the most highlight. I also coloured the nose and inner ear with white, flesh and pink.



2. Because I am aiming for a grey bunny, and my shades will go from White to Grey to Black, I am using white to begin with. Along the far edge of every part of the bunny I add a layer of white fur. This is the furthest layer of fur in each area, the bottom most layer. (Keep your tip sharp!) So the lowest part of the foot, the edges of his belly, the underside of his arms etc. Try and follow the flow of how real fur grows on animals. Grab your nearest animal and have a look. For example, hair on the nose grows upwards, not downwards etc. If you are doing another coloured animal, you could also start with white or the palest tone/colour of the fur. Starting with white often works best on kraft card.



3. Then in rows, build up layers of individual hairs until the whole bunny is covered. Keep with the direction the hair grows, so over the belly here, I have done, four rows or white hairs, downwards. So the narrowest part of the hair is the last part of your stroke, so your strokes match the direction the hair grows. Because I have printed him in grey, I can ignore the digi outline a little and add in some hairs over the line to make him look more furry.



4. Using pale grey and then medium grey add a layer of hairs, just the same as with the white, everywhere apart from places you would like to catch the light, or remain white. Here I have left his belly, cheeks and arm highlights etc. If you are doing a creature with stripes, this is the time to add them in. Remember to keep with the flow of the hair you have already put down and use a range of lighter to darker tones in the stripe colour.
I also added in some darker hairs inside the ear, with a few upwards strokes.



5. Now with black, or your darkest shade, do a layer of hair everywhere there will be more shade, so under the scarf, belly, arms etc. Just one layer, following the flow of the hair, and over the top of the fur you have already done (in grey and white). I also added some darker hair where his eye will be to add some definition to his face. It makes more sense when you put his eye back in!



6. Add in a few fur strokes in darker colours (grey/black) to the paler areas to create some definition of a few hairs (see belly area/nose). Also add in extra white strokes to darker areas if they look too unintentionally stripy or dense.

Add hairs to the outline in dark or white depending on how well defined the edge is. If it's already well defined perhaps add more white, if less so, add some dark. I have also done this over the white area of his hat, adding some dark lines to show the fur is in front of the fluffy white rim.

On the feet, reverse the stroke process. Hold you pencil on the bottom line of the foot and do a short stroke upwards into the white hairs. This creates a sharp line at the base of the foot, darker than the hair, without interrupting the feel of the fur direction.



7. When I print out my image to colour, I also print, on the same sheet of card, a black image of the digistamp I am using so I can refer back to it at the later stages of colouring. As I have completely lost the eye and whiskers marks now, I put them back in with a black Uni Pin Fine Line pen. Wait for it to dry after, it will smudge if you go in too soon. I also tackled the bunny tail at this point, using the same techniques as with the rest of the body.



8. Add highlights with your fine nib white Posca pen, it's especially effective on the kraft card, as we can't leave white areas as we can normally when colouring on white card. I added highlights to his eye, nose, scarf and the trim on his hat.



All done! Hope you found this interesting and helpful.  Feedback much appreciated! What do you think of doing it via pictures? Is it helpful? Would it be more helpful if I did a video? Let me know :)


Monday, September 11, 2017

Flowery 80th!

Happy Monday to you all! Blogging a commissioned card today that was for an 80th Birthday. The lady likes flower arranging and bowling, so I thought I would make a flowery bowling card. (Genius huh?)  I am hoping that the bowling is Crown Green, not Ten Pin! lol.


You might recognise the flowers from some Sympathy and Thank you card I made last month, they are from Sheena Douglass's Bloomin Beautiful set. I stamped them in white onto watercolour paper, then heat embossed them in white. Then used my Gansai Tambi Watercolours on top.


The image was a vintage photo online that I recoloured and cropped. I also used some papers that were free from "Making Cards" magazine, quite old and from the stash.  Around the 80 flower I used some spare wings I had over from making the Bee get well soon card - such a hoarder :) The cork numbers are from Papermania. Bling, Stickles, Washi and Nuvo Jewel Drops to finish. Also right at the end I decided to add a butterfly top right, I don't remember where they came from :/

Font is Lobster Two, for those fonty obsessed people out there. I love a good font :)

Friday, September 08, 2017

First LBBS DT post!

Hi all, I am cross posting this onto the Little Blue Button Blog this month! Feels like being a proper adult! lol!

For my DT image this month I chose Chatting Charlie! I think it was the first LBB image I saw and loved. It also reminds me a lot of my friend Fiki! So I have been inspired by her kitties when I coloured in the cat!


I used polychromo pencils on kraft card, white posca paint for some highlights, and added Papermania star bling to embellish. The background paper is from Tonic (Mid Summer Mornings, 8x8) and the Font is Courier.

 Click on the image below to pop and have a look at her in the shop!

http://lbbstamps.com/product/chatting-charlie-digital-stamp-for-cardmaking/

She colours up so nicely! I love her! Defo one of my fav all time digis.


Thanks so much Olga for letting me part of your DT, am really enjoying it!

Entered this for The show us your pussies challenge - hope it counts as sufficiently cattish!

Wednesday, September 06, 2017

Challenge 40 - Part 3

Third post for the Crafty Addicts post for Challenge No.40 on the blog!

Two great sponsors again, All Dressed Up (Prize of 2 images) and Lemon Shortbread (Prize of 3 images) and the theme is ATG or Add buttons or brads.

Unfortunately two of the DT had to leave before posting their projects with this gorgeous digi called "Over the Moon" from All Dressed Up.

Luckily I have used this stamp previously so thought I would reshare some pictures of it to thank them for sharing this digi with us and hopefully showing off how nice it is to colour and use!


I used polychromo pencils on Kraft card. This card was for a wedding commission :)


Sponsor Badges
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/alldressedupstampshttps://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/lemonshortbread

Crafty Addicts Challenge 40 part two.

Second post for the Crafty Addicts post for Challenge No.40 on the blog!

Two great sponsors again, All Dressed Up (Prize of 2 images) and Lemon Shortbread (Prize of 3 images) and the theme is ATG or Add buttons or brads.

In this post I am showing you an image from All Dressed Up, in today's other post it'll be Lemon Shortbread!

I chose to use Boo! A freebie from All Dressed Up for my card, and added brads in the corners to fit the theme.


They have quite a few awesome freebies if you want to check them out? Card is coloured with Polychromo Pencils.



The greeting is part of the digistamp, including the cool eyes in the "Boo!".

Sponsor Badges
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/alldressedupstamps

Crafty Addicts Challenge 40!

Back again with my Crafty Addicts post for Challenge No.40 on the blog!

Two great sponsors again, All Dressed Up (Prize of 2 images) and Lemon Shortbread (Prize of 3 images) and the theme is ATG or Add buttons or brads.

In this post I am showing you an image from Lemon Shortbread, in today's other post it'll be All Dressed Up!

I chose to use Jazz Flapper from Lemon Shortbread for my card, and added a brad to fit the theme.


Card is coloured with Polychromo Pencils. I added Nuvo Jewel Drops to her bead necklace in tiny little dots!


The font is Nouveau FLF. The brad was from my ancient stash.

Sponsor Badges
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/alldressedupstamps

Monday, September 04, 2017

Bee Well!

After having bee dies gifted to me twice in as many days (a freebie from fabulous Crafty Kitty Cat Shop with my order) and Helen (on a destash), I thought I could defo use them for a Bee-well soon card!


It's quite a dark card for me, but I quite enjoyed the depth of colour. The background was made using a homemade cloud mask and Distress Inks (Faded Jeans and Chipped Sapphire) and Distress Oxide (Wilted Violet) flicked with water.


The large bee die was a freebie from Crafty Kitty Cat Shop (Cuts out great!) and the small bee was from the Fanciful Flights set from Spellbinders. I cut them out in three different coloured papers and then pieced them together.
The grass/mushroom border die is from Polkadoodles. (It is an excellent cutter for something so fiddly).
The font is October Twilight.
After I took the picture I decided to add some stickles to the bees wings, livened it up quite a lot!

Friday, September 01, 2017

News and New Release!

http://lbbstamps.com/

Hi! I have some nice news to share! I have joined a new Design Team at Little Blue Button Stamps! Am so excited to work with these images, it's so nice to use digis that are fun to colour and are a joy to share :)

Today is new release day at Little Blue Button Stamps, and I was lucky enough to colour up Witch Sophie!


I printed Sophie onto kraft card ( a little lighter than the original digistamp) and also added the wording too, so as if it was a one layer card. Font is Svergie Script.


I used polychromo pencils to colour her in and some white posca pen for the eye highlights.


Finally I mounted it onto a 7x5 card blank with a strip of patterned paper (From Tonic - Mid Summer Mornings 8x8) and added some sequins and stickles to embellish!

If you would like to see some of the DT's projects for this month's new releases, please pop by the blog and have a look!


Entered this for The show us your pussies challenge - hope it counts as sufficiently cattish!